While the 61st Cosă government can't be "formally" inaugurated until Cosă seats are assigned and a Seneschal can be formally named, since we've established who the incoming Seneschal shall be, why not bring in the new Cabinet lineup a bit early?

I hereby declare that I have requested that the King please confirm the following Cabinet appointments:

@Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC : Seneschal, Immigration, Culture
@Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be : Distain, Technology
@Bråneu Excelsio, UrN : Defence, STUFF
@Antaglha Xhenerös Somelieir : Foreign
@Sir Ian Plätschisch : Finance
@Pôl dal Nordselvă : Justice

This is a minor reshuffle at this stage, comprising a new Attorney-General, and a "change of guard" at Distáin. I am extremely grateful and happy for the work Bråneu put in in the last term, after his previous bruising experience as Seneschal, and I'm happy for him to chillax a bit.

A further reshuffle will be required in a month or two if - as predicted - Sir Ian is confirmed to the Uppermost Cort. Also, hopefully within the day or two we will be able to confirm several Deputy Ministers and other political appointments.

The Avant Coalition is pleased and proud to inform the nation that Munditenens "Dien" Tresplet, the Independent Conservative, has agreed to provide "confidence and supply" to a Miestră Schivă-led government in the 61st Cosă.

The terms of this agreement are that MC Tresplet will vote ÜC on every Vote of Confidence and PËR on the 61st Cosă Budget, on the condition that the Government will not Clark any Organic Law reforms in this term unless they are co-sponsored by either MC Tresplet, or by a Progressive Alliance MC or Senator.

¡Så vivadra Talossa democrätic!

Please see the raw ballots here.

RAW VOTES:
@Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC 7
@Bråneu Excelsio, UrN 1

Total votes: 8
Quota for election: 2.67 votes







@Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC , @Bråneu Excelsio, UrN and @Gjermund Higraff are therefore the Praisidieu for the next Cosa term.

Congratulations to all parties in the election on a clean, well-fought campaign. It's a pleasant surprise that turnout went up, both in absolute and relative terms.

While I'm disappointed not to have preserved the AVANT majority, the referendum on the Fixed Terms amendment gives excellent feedback on where to go from here (and is a shining example for grassroots democracy). I have opened discussions with the Progressive Alliance and that independent, conservative gentleman on forming the next government.

Placeholder to integrate Justice Perþonets' comments below into a new revision of El Lex G.11.1

Quote from: Istefan Perþonest on March 13, 2025, 03:24:35 PMYeah, so, regarding the most recent case I saw?

It would be nice if, instead of relying on my interpretation (which isn't binding precedent since it's a General Cort-level decision, and couldn't become biding precedent under the Organic Law even if appealed to the Uppermost Cort because it couldn't get a three-judge panel after recusals), you guys could either revise the statute law to explicitly say the inactivity-retirement system is a Notice of Reprimand procedure requiring concurrence of 2/3rds the Cosa, or, alternatively, revise the OrgLaw to make the existing procedure unquestionably Organic.

What exactly you should do is, I think, too much a policy (and thus political) matter for it to be proper for me to make a specific recommendation.

But I do think the absolute worst place for there to be any obvious room for differing interpretations in Talossan law is over the question of who has the power and responsibility to definitively interpret Talossan law.

Since it hasn't been scribed yet, let's specify that G.11.1 now reads in its entirety:

Quote11.1. Uppermost Cort Judges may be compelled to retire through organic removal
from office through an act of the Ziu in accordance with Article VIII of the Organic Law.
In accordance with the appropriate section, the inactivity of a Justice is defined as the
failure of that Justice to act, rule, or appear in an open case the Justice is assigned to
or participating in for more than 60 days, as certified by the Ziu in a majority vote.

I will also point out that the following provision was deleted by 60RZ20:

Quote11.1.1 A Justice of the Cort pü Inalt shall be declared inactive, and to have vacated
their seat, within the meaning of Organic Law VIII, if the Clerk of the Corts, contacting
the members of the CpI to assign a case as described in this title, is unable to contact
that Justice or does not receive any response to their enquiries, within 30 days

In the Hopper debate on this, @Baron Alexandreu Davinescu expressed discomfort with that paragraph and said that reappointment should be a sufficient check on completely checked-out Judges; but I'm not that happy with the reappointments clause, i.e. OrgLaw VIII:4:

QuoteUnless otherwise set by law, re-appointment shall be deemed automatic if no member of the Ziu has requested a re-appointment vote in the Cosa immediately preceding the expiration of the Judge's term; and re-appointment shall only require a simple majority of each house in the Ziu. The Ziu may modify the foregoing provided the requirements of re-appointment never exceed that for appointment.

I don't know how long "immediately preceding is", but what it boils down that there's a rather short window of opportunity for tossing a Justice overboard and if you miss that it's another 5 years.

So these are all things to think about.

The ¡Avant! coalition is pleased to announce our endorsements for the ongoing Senäts elections:

• Atatürk: @Antaglha Xhenerös Somelieir
• Cézembre: @Glüc
• Vuode: @Eðo Grischun

As many of you know, I have young children. A while ago, the Senator from Fiovă, cxhn. Valcádac'h, commented that I must be enthused for the day that the oldest turns 14 and I can introduce them to Talossan citizenship.

My answer surprised GV, I think; and to some extent, it surprised me. It was: "no. Why would I want them to suffer?"

I wasn't in a great mood that day, so maybe I overstated the case. But sadly, I stand by the general sentiment. Talossa as it exists today is not an environment which I would promote to my kids; or indeed, in a serious way, to anyone else.

Why? Because Talossa has been unpleasant for me, personally, for quite a while.

Part of this is the long, drawn-out, bitter constitutional struggle over the monarchy; I haven't quite recovered from the exhaustion of that process. But more than that, it has been the normalisation of personal attacks and harassment in Talossan politics.

Not more than a couple of years ago, a Seneschal of Talossa was harassed out of office (and temporarily out of the Kingdom) by his own predecessor, by a former member of his party. The Secretary of State has been the target of unsavory behavior, which walks right up to the line of sexual harassment, and in my opinion steps over it.

I do not want my children to be involved in a community like this - and please remember that children of high school ages are our citizens. Of course, you can't stop people being what we call "forăs da ciol" in the national language. You can't criminalise being a jerk, and you shouldn't try. But to the extent that we do not enact social sanctions for bad behaviour, we are giving the message: "the people making others feel yuck are more valuable to us than the targets of their behaviour".

I hasten to say, things are getting better! Having a Head of State who actually cares for the country, for its social health and for the wellbeing of its citizens has helped. It's helped a lot. Så vivadra el Regeu, and you know what a shocker that is coming from me.

But let's put it this way. The King recently organised a meet-and-greet over Zoom. This was an excellent initiative, but I know of some Talossans who didn't take part, precisely because one of the leading bullies in Talossa might have been on the call.

In the past when I have complained about this, the answer has always been: that I, Miestră, am myself an unpleasant person, that I have done exactly this in the past, and therefore I deserve whatever blowback I get. Fine. I annoy people. I am what I am and what I am is pretty poor. But I challenge anyone to make an argument that Bråneu Excelsio deserved it.

The highest morality in many philosophical and faith traditions is that we wish for others what we wish for ourselves. Fine. I wish that everyone in Talossa who acts like a creep, a bully, a nasty scold, a high-handed dog-in-the-manger who feels entitled to run the place, gets sanctioned. And that includes me.

Because this is the only way the culture will ever change. Only if Talossa becomes pleasant to interact in - if you aren't constantly looking over your shoulder to watch out if someone who wishes you ill is going to try to spoil your fun - would I want my little ones to involved. And for that matter; only in that case would I feel great about encouraging anyone to immigrate.

The opposition have attacked the current Government's record in terms of immigration. To their credit, when they were in power, they did try to do "more"; and it simply didn't work, for whatever reason. And - given our culture - there's no reason to expect it'd work any better next time. But sometimes in politics, voters prefer to see tough talk and declarations of intent even if they have zero practical results. We'll see if that's what the voters really want this time.

But "growth for growth's sake" is the ideology of cancer. The cry from our opponents is that the current institutions don't work properly given the number of current active citizens. So therefore, we must desperately increase immigration to... make the institutions work better?

The institutions were made for the Talossan people, not the Talossan people for the institutions. People do not immigrate to Talossa for the joys of a bicameral legislature. Lotsa countries got one of those.

The conservative attitude to Talossa - and let's just say that there's a long tradition in Talossa of conservative parties calling themselves "Progressive" - is that Talossa is the institutions. And if the institutions aren't working for the population, then - as Bertolt Brecht put it - we have to recruit a different population. This attitude led to a decade defending an increasingly out of touch, hostile, apathetic, and bitter King in a political struggle that sapped a lot of life out of this kingdom.

A re-elected ¡Avant! government will continue our work of encouraging immigration of new citizens, but we will also continue to reform the institutions so that they work for the citizens, not the other way around. To do otherwise is stagnation; of turning Talossa into a museum, because one political leader really identifies with the museum pieces.

But much more important that the institutions - conserved or reformed - is cultural change. By which I mean, Talossans just behaving towards each other with courtesy. Or politeness, if courtesy is a problem. ¡Avant! wants to significantly beef up the powers and independence of Wittenberg moderation, to be able to enact social sanction on people who just ruin things for the rest of Talossa.

We've had problems with this in the past because - if it's a politician acting like that, and it usually is - the moderators themselves get targeted for abused, accused of political bias. King Robert I was fond of saying that everyone in Talossa could be a major political figure. Fine; but we know what happens when major political figures start to think they're above the rules (or basic decency), and that any attempt to hold them to account is political bias. It's happening in the Big Neighbour right now.

In this election, we need to draw a hard line against people who behave in a way that causes people to walk away from Talossa; to go inactive; to make people not want to promote Talossa to anyone they care about. I am aware that this may include me! It may include all of us. We need to sanction bad behaviour regardless of whether our political allies commit it, or our political enemies are the victims.

If there's anything I've found out in my decades of Talossanity and my (counts) bloody hell, FOUR terms as Seneschal, it's that the Government is limited to the extent that it can "change" Talossa at a fundamental level. This is probably good, because it means that Talossa is more "real" than any political tendency. But it means that for things to change - for example, the basic culture of what kind of behaviour is acceptable from Talossa - it has to come from the people. The best a Government can do is lead by example; the best a political party can do is name the issue and canvass support for it.

A vote for ¡Avant! is a vote for the interests of Talossa as a population first. Not a defence of institutions as if they were more real than people. Not a defence of individual citizens to be bullies, creeps, and pests, and generally defecate on the national discourse. But building Talossa as a civil society into which we would all want to invite our friends and our loved ones.

Let's make a land fit for kind people to move to; a land I would be overjoyed to introduce my children to.

An Announcement from the Free Democrats of Talossa, COFFEE, and el Parti da Reformaziun

The three parties comprising the ¡Avant! coalition, which forms the current Government of Talossa, are pleased to announce their intention to contest the April 2025 election on a joint electoral list. While the three parties will remain distinct entities, this electoral alliance will enable the smoother formation of a list of candidates, streamline the electoral process for voters and for the Chancery, and ease negotiations for formation of the next government. The three party leaders will be joint leaders of the single list, and will occupy the first three spaces on that list.

In this Cosă term, the ¡Avant! coalition oversaw a return to stable government in Talossa. We managed to help bring forth a new era for Talossa with the accession of a new King. We enacted reforms to our nation's immigration system to ensure our focus remains on quality, not quantity. We led a national discussion to chart a consensus course for reforms to the Organic Law (and have begun to bring these through the Ziu). Multiple reforms to improve government transparency and efficiency were enacted. Renovations to the nation's digital infrastructure have begun, including the replacement of our National Database. And at the provincial level, coalition members have helped to revitalize and reform their communities in ways that promote democracy and good government while rectifying some of the mistakes of Talossans past. Above all, ¡Avant! has sought to promote friendly, collaborative government, paying respect to the Opposition and steering away from the partisan hostility which characterised previous governments.

We ask the voters to give us another term to continue promoting quality immigration, a non-political Civil Service, stronger measures against harassment, and sensible, democratic Organic Law reforms. Re-elect Miestră Schivă as Seneschal!

As you may have seen in another thread, my bill that would nominate @Sir Ian Plätschisch to the Uppermost Cort is eligible to go on the last Clark of this term.

However, I thought it proper to ask the members of the Ziu more broadly, especially Opposition members, whether they would prefer this be delayed to enable confirmation hearings, like we have had for some (not all) previous candidates.

WHEREAS a seat on the Cort pü Inalt was made vacant by the passage of 60RZ19;

AND WHEREAS the Government has agreed on a supremely qualified candidate for the role, who unfortunately has other duties as Attorney-General, Finance Minister, Senator, and Senäts nominee to the Electoral Commission right now;

BE IT ENACTED by the King, Senäts and Cosă of Talossa assembled as the Ziu, that under the provisions of Organic Law VIII.4, @Sir Ian Plätschisch is nominated as a Puisne Judge of the Cort pü Inalt of Talossa, this appointment to take effect immediately upon the final certification of the 61st Cosă election.

QuoteWHEREAS the recent reforms to immigration emphasising "quality over quantity" raised valid concerns about the Immigration Minister having too much discretion;

AND WHEREAS a possible form of abuse of discretion would be for the Immigration Minister to petition for grants of citizenship and to expect "favours" from new citizens in return;

BE IT ENACTED that El Lexhatx E.7 be amended by the insertion of the words in bold:

Quote7. The Secretary of State shall, on a date of his choosing, but within a period of ten days after receiving a petition from at least two citizens, neither of whom shall be the Minister of Immigration or anyone to whom they have delegated their powers, to issue a Grant of Citizenship as described in clause 4, and upon certification from the Ministry of Immigration that the prospective citizen has sufficient understanding of Talossan life and culture for full participation determine the provincial assignment of the prospective immigrant and issue a Royal Grant of Citizenship to the immigrant. This Grant shall be issued under the Royal Seal, either as applied by the Chancery, or, should the Majesty request, by the Sovereign under his or her own hand. If requested by the Government, the Grant may also bear the signatures of the Seneschal and/or Immigration Minister. The Royal Grant shall be promptly issued coincident with the candidate affirming his fealty to the Royal House and his allegiance to the Kingdom by taking any Oath of Talossan Citizenship specified by law. At the time this Royal Grant is issued, and from that point forward, the applicant shall be a full citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. The fact of the issuance of this Grant shall be posted on Wittenberg by the Secretary of State, that the new citizen may be welcomed by his compatriots. Any and all objections raised to the immigration made after this Royal Grant will be moot.

In accordance with 60RZ13, this year's Budget, which states:

Quoteno funds shall be disbursed without a notice of disbursement having first been transmitted to the Ziu at least fourteen days prior to the disbursement, except that disbursements solely for the purpose of postage may be made with no less than 24 hours notice. Notices shall contain details of the purchase and a cost estimate for the purchase, or the total amount paid if seeking funds for reimbursement. Copies of receipts and/or invoices will be provided upon request to Members of the Ziu.

BE THE ZIU NOTIFIED that, on behalf of the Minister of Finance who is on leave, I have authorised the Burgermister of Internal Revenue to disburse 33¤20 (US$50.00) from the Ministry of Culture's budget, to purpose two $25 Amazon gift cards for the winners of the Talossan-language writing competition.

Any questions?

WHEREAS, given the historical genocide of the Armenian people under the Ottoman Empire, and its continued denial by the Ottoman successor state, the Turkish Republic, it is highly offensive that new citizens from Armenia be assigned to Atatürk province;

AND WHEREAS the nearest contiguous nation to Armenia not assigned to Atatürk province is Iran, which is assigned to Fiovă;

THEREFORE be it enacted on the countersignature of the King under Organic Law VI.4 that:

1) El Lexhatx E.7.4. shall be amended by the deletion of the word "Armenia", to read thus:

Quote7.4. ATATÜRK PROVINCE. Talossan citizens living in the following areas shall be assigned to Atatürk Province: the Wisconsin counties of Calumet, Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, and Washington; and the U.S. states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland & Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Island, Quebec; Internationally, the nations of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Georgia, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Somaliland, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

1) El Lexhatx E.7.11. shall be amended by the addition of the word "Armenia", to read thus:

Quote7.11. FIOVA PROVINCE. Talossan citizens living in the following areas shall be assigned to Fiova Province: the nations of Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Comoros, Eswatini, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Laos, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Seychelles, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.[424]

We've got an Armenian prospective who really resents being assigned to a province named after the founder of the Turkish Republic.

Have you guys considered doing what Belacosta did with their old name? Twice?

¡Estimadă.ts cüncitaxhiens!

It has been a grief for me that, during the Duke of Lupul's time on the throne, there was a growing alienation between the King and his elected Government, to the point of total lack of communication - unless repeated text messages requesting a formality, followed by a formality being issued, counts as communication.  I thought maybe that was just my winning personality, but no; other Governments had similar issues.

You may have been me rambling to the Free Democrat convention that this was something we had to change. As luck would have it, we now have a King who is paying attention. I am happy to announce, therefore, that henceforth, as Seneschál I will be having regular audiences with His Majesty The King to discuss Government business.

My preferences for minimal Royal political action - in fact, for minimal Royal anything - are well known. However, failing the dawn of the New Republic, Talossa needs a constitutional monarchy as exists in other well-run countries. In the United Kingdom, the Monarch has quite awesome powers in paper, which it is a social contract never to use except in the direst emergency. But the 19th century journalist Walter Bagehot argued that the Monarch has three rights, which are also three duties, towards their elected Government: to advise, to encourage, and to warn.

So: regular meetings so that His Majesty can advise, encourage, and warn me. This is a precedent that we hope will be upheld by my successors in Government - and his successors as Head of State of Talossa.

Questions? Comments?

Under the provisions of El Lexhatx D.2.1, I am happy to name @Mic'haglh Autófil, SMC EiP as Acting Foreign Minister, to cover for @Bentxamì Puntmasleu who has taken a leave of absence.

(For those keeping track, I don't need the King to do a formality on this one!)

In accordance with El Lexhatx C.3.1, I humbly advise the King to appoint @Sir Lüc as Secretary of State.

We are pleased to announce that, due to the sterling and very timely work of @Baron Alexandreu Davinescu, we appear to have restored functioning on the Immigration form.

The even better news is that at least one of the "lost" immigration applications has confirmed that they still want their application to continue.

The Government of Talossa sincerely apologises to the nation for this technical disaster. I will work with the Minister of Technology and other interested parties to produce a full report of why this happened, and the steps we are taking to make sure it never happens again.

As authorised by Organic Law IV.8, and with the advice and consent of Cabinet, I am declaring a Month of Recess for December XLV/2024. That is, there will be no Clark next month.

This is to enable (a) the Cabinet to have some extra time to grapple with a backlog of work; (b) to enable proper debate and discussion of the current Organic Law reform proposal, and probably one more to come.

This would also be an excellent time, being Independence Day, for the King to abdicate, hint hint.

The Ministry of Culture, in association with La Società per l'Ilesnaziun del Glheþ Naziunal (SIGN), is pleased to formally announce a contest for writing in the Talossan language / ár glheþ naziunal.

There will be two categories of entries each with a prize of a US$25 Amazon gift card:

• Short-form: under 100 words. This opens the field to poetry, as well as to less confident Talossan language learners who might only be able to do one or two sentences.
• Long-form: 100-1500 words. Ain't no-one got time to read more than that.

Entries will mainly be judged on literary merit and on at least a good "attempt" to write in Talossan. (If we can understand it, it's good enough). Correct grammar may be used as a "tiebreaker".

Entries must be submitted by December 1 as a reply here or by private message to a member of SIGN, and will be judged by the members of SIGN as a committee. Please note that the judges may well submit their own entries, but all entries will be published for the sake of transparency (unless entrants object).

The winning entry will be announced on 12 December, Llimbaziua (Language Day).

Questions? Comments?